Collision
by coffee-raid
Summary: She had been home schooled her entire life, and is finally joining Corona High School in her junior year, wide-eyed and full of expectations. He was the school's "bad boy", snarky remarks and possibly true rumours preceding his reputation. What happens next, you ask? Why, collision of their worlds, of course...[high school au]


heyy,

so this fic comes as a result of a staunch bout of writer's block. and i really hope that you'll like this. i tried my best to avoid the cliches. but come on, it _is_ based on a Disney movie after all. however, if there is any part that you do find lacking, feel free to drop in your thoughts. and do let me know what you guys think! honestly though, we all live for some validation, haha!

also, who else is pretty excited for the _T_ _angled_ TV series?

 **disclaimer:** i don't own Tangled. All rights belong to Disney. don't sue me, please. i can only pay you in Ramen packets.

anyway, on to the story now.

* * *

 **collision.**

 **(a** ** _Tangled_** **fanfic)**

 **chapter one.**

Rapunzel glanced at her surroundings with what could only be described as _pure, uninhibited awe_. Which was a pretty fine way of glancing around one's surroundings, _really_. Like one might do in a forest, or a movie set, or, _hell_ , even in a chocolate factory. But when it's done sitting on a bench in the reception right outside the principal's office of a pretty ordinary run-of-the-mill public school, then yes…it gets a tad weird.

Which was why Ms. Perky, the fifty-year old receptionist who had seen her share – and then some – of weird and weirder in this school, kept looking at Rapunzel every few seconds, both of their expressions unchanging.

But Rapunzel was unfazed. Having being homeschooled her entire life, she finally got her chance to experience the quintessential high school lifestyle she had always wanted to witness. Everything was new to her: the plain marble tiled floor, the certificates lined up on the wall, the name of the principal on the door in big bold letters –

"Honey, I'm home!"

\- and even the boisterous arrival of as a tall, brown-haired boy, making himself, well, _right at home._

"Your level of inappropriateness has reached a new height, Mr. Rider," Ms. Perky commented sharply, not once removing her glance from her computer.

Rapunzel stared at him in shock as he simply placed one palm over his heart and gasped with mock indignation. "And I thought over these years you had finally grown to love me and my flaws, insignificant and little as they are, not to mention –"

"What is it this time, Mr. Rider?" Ms. Perky cut in. Finally looking at him, she leveled the wide grin on his face with a passive look that showed her familiarity with the situation. This wasn't the first time he had come to annoy her. Ever since his freshman year, when he made a "distasteful, inappropriate comment comparing a certain part of the human anatomy with my name", he had always, _always_ gotten on her nerves.

"Flynn would suffice, _Gla-dys_." Flynn Rider grinned, not in the least bit deterred. Pulling out a slip from his pocket, he handed it over to her.

Ms. Perky skimmed through the white piece of paper. "Claimed to be Spiderman?" She repeated, voice and face both devoid of any surprise.

"My spidey senses have been tingling all morning."

She shook her head and went back to her work on the computer. "You know the drill."

And he did. Flashing another smirk her way, he turned his way towards the bench. When he finally noticed Rapunzel, his eyes did a double-take. He had never seen her before because he's _pretty sure_ he would have remembered _her_. She looked demure, and her hair, her long blonde hair in its neat braid had actually seemed to – glow? _What on earth?!_ But what drew him to her the most was her eyes. Green, wide-as-a-saucer eyes that seemed to comically alternate between him and Ms. Perky. That and her gaping mouth indicated that she was certainly new. At least, new enough to have not known that this was a regular occurrence between him and _Gladys_ over there.

He almost chuckled at her expression. But before he could go over to her and flash her the _smolder_ – _girls loved the smolder_ – she jolted out of her bewilderment at the sound of Ms. Perky's voice. It seemed to have called out her name because she – the girl with the glowing hair and green eyes – immediately stood up, all flustered before entering the principal's office. She looked at him over her shoulder once again before closing the door behind her.

Flynn occupied the space she left on the bench, head turned sideways to face the door. "Huh." He simply stated, the image of her bright green eyes and glowing hair flashing in his mind. She was cute. No denying that. But – but, _shit, what was the but?_ He knew there was a 'but', it had been niggling at him ever since he left. The image flashed again, and he remembered. He didn't know what made it so, but something about her just seemed out of reach. Like a royal crown delicately placed on a pillowed stand, guards with weapons surrounding it on all sides.

And he'd be damned if that didn't make him want her. _Woah, woah, Rider back up there for a sec. Want? Where did that come from?_

Okay, so perhaps 'want' was too strong- but maybe _want-ish?_

 _Yes, that sounds fine. Want-ish._ Either way, he was tempted to know her. To have _her_ know him – the Flynn Rider in him.

Shit. He didn't even catch her name earlier. He turned to face the receptionist. "Heeeeeey, Gladys," he drawled sweetly.

"No."

Well, this wasn't an easy start at all.

* * *

"This is your locker. Hand over the slip, I'll show you how to use the combination."

Rapunzel looked at the slip of paper in her hand, numbers scribbled on it, and passed it to the red-haired girl in front.

Her meeting with the principal had gone rather smoothly. He was a kind man of a few words. After welcoming her, he had called in another student. For a second, Rapunzel thought it would be the guy from the reception, but was quickly met with a pleasant surprise. The principal introduced a confident, red-haired girl as the girl who would show Rapunzel around the school on her first day. Merida and Rapunzel exchanged smiles and instantly found an easy comradery.

Rapunzel refocused her attention to the locker in front, looking at the combination look with keen interest. "Oh." She exclaimed, when the locker opened after a _click!_

Merida noticed this and chuckled good-naturedly. "Mustn't have had one of these back at home, huh?" Though the statement was meant to be a rhetoric, Rapunzel shook her head, eyes still transfixed on the strange metallic object.

"So, what's the deal with the whole home-schooling thing now? Why did you change your mind only for the last two years of high school?"

"Oh, um, it wasn't my idea."

"The homeschooling or –"

"Both." Rapunzel adjusted the strap of her purple sling bag. "My mother – she has always been quite overprotective of me, and I suppose, in her own way, wanted to protect me from the – from _everything_ outside."

Merida raised her eyebrows. "Woah."

"Yeah. So that explains the home schooling part." Rapunzel chuckled.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. It's just I've never really knew anyone who was homeschooled." Merida leaned back against an adjacent locker.

"It's okay. I suppose, my mother eventually figured that she couldn't teach me everything and take care of her business at the same time, so that explains what I'm doing here now." Rapunzel looked around the mass of chattering teenagers around her, subconsciously looking for a familiar brown-haired boy.

Merida nodded. "Either way, welcome to Corona High School." But before Rapunzel could respond, Merida caught the slightly earnest look on her face, her own eyes following Rapunzel's line of sight. "Is there someone you're looking for?"

And Rapunzel had thought she was being subtle. "Uh no, no. Not really," she replied a little too quickly. Merida raised an eyebrow, a small grin playing on her face. "Who is it? Is it a boy?"

"No. Yes. No, I mean." She sighed. _Subtlety is really not my strong suit._ "It's just someone I saw earlier in the reception. This boy. He looked quite –" she tried to think of an apt word, but could find none " – friendly, I guess, with the reception lady."

Merida briefly tried to think of who Rapunzel could be referring to, but after a few seconds realized it was a futile attempt given such an extremely vague description. There was also the added factor that Merida didn't want to fluster her already restless new acquaintance even more. _She probably just has a little crush on Hans or someone_.

"I got it!" Rapunzel exclaimed suddenly, eyes and smile bright as she finally remembered his name. "Flynn. Flynn Rider," she said slowly, testing the words as they rolled off her tongue.

Merida's jaw slackened at that. "Oh no. No no." The panic in her voice was evident. "He's bad news, Rapunzel. No no. You can't have a crush on him. You can't."

"Crush?-what? No, _no._ I –"

Merida cut her off. She had heard of Flynn, butted heads with him on multiple occasions, and although as the student body president she was required to maintain a code of bias and decorum, she couldn't bring herself to do so now. She had heard the rumours – juvenile delinquency, two months in the wild bushlands of Australia, _hell_ , what about the one where he ate a raw duck?! Okay, so maybe the last one was unlikely – maybe all of them were. But Merida couldn't take a chance. Not when it came to Rapunzel, who was enthusiastic about every single detail of her surroundings, who after years of being sheltered finally got a chance at normalcy.

But she understood her place in all of this. All Merida could do was steer her with caution and hope. "Look, I understand that it's not my business to be poking into yours, but give this school thing a chance. It's better to not get tangled with the likes of Flynn." She summarized, trying to not let her own bias seep through much.

Confusion shone brightly on Rapunzel's face. She opened her mouth, ready with the multiple questions buzzing in her mind. Then again, so far, Merida was her only friend in this new place, and she seemed pretty nice. She snapped her mouth shut, hesitantly nodding. "Okay." Sensing the normal look returning back on Merida's face, Rapunzel quickly shifted to a more comfortable topic. "So, I heard this school has one of the biggest libraries of the state."

At this, Merida smiled widely, walking towards the library with Rapunzel beside her, as she animatedly talked about the other faculties of the school. A flash of brown suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision, and Rapunzel found herself looking at the person who had formed an odd imprint on her mind. She saw him talking to someone else, his back turned towards her. Quickly averting her gaze, she tried to keep up with Merida and once again became absorbed in whatever tales the red-haired talked about her favourite spot on the school.

 _Mother was wrong. The real world_ is _an interesting place_.

* * *

how did it go? s/o to those who got the _10 things i hate about you_ reference ;)

i had the hardest time finding the right place to finish the chapter.

review review review please?


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